The Last of the Gents

I see that lots of people are picking up on the comparison between John Edwards and Grover Cleveland. Fine with me; I've been a big Cleveland fan ever since I read H. L. Mencken arguing that he was "the last of the gentlemen" (I suppose it is in that old yellow Vintage paperpack)--except that in this case, I think maybe the more appropriate nuance would be "gent."

The way I hear tell, Cleveland probably did not father that illegitimate child, but that of all the suspects, he was the only bachelor, and so he did the manly thing and took the rap. So far as I can tell, nobody has yet recalled his canonical response to the accusation against him:

I didn't enter this race as a gelding.

That would have been 1880, or thereabouts. The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, and politics has never been the same.

By the way for clarity, I see not the slightest reason to dissent from the consensus view that John Edwards is an effing moron.

Update: Larry says John Edwards is "the white southern male equivalent of Bill Clinton." I guess I get that.